The invention generally relates to computers and computer networks and in particular to a technique for tunneling management messages over a channel architecture network.
Several legacy transports have been used as standards for many years. The centralized in-kernel protocol processing for data transfers performed by legacy transports, such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) prohibits applications from realizing the potential raw hardware performance offered by underlying high-speed networks. A standard architecture has been proposed for an interface between high performance network hardware and computer systems, and is described in Virtual Interface (VI) Architecture Specification, Version 1.0, Dec. 16, 1997, jointly authored by Compaq Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The VI Architecture was designed to eliminate the buffer copies and kernel overhead associated with such legacy transports.
While some new or proposed networks may provide improved performance, one or more aspects of such networks may be incompatible with existing or legacy networks or controllers. Users have already invested large sums of money in legacy equipment and controllers. As a result, there is a need to allow for the continued operation and maintenance of the legacy equipment while being connected to such an incompatible network.